Bad Timing
by RangerOfOlympus
Summary: Magnus and Sam were sent to check out some strange monster activity, and it turns out way stranger than they thought. These are monsters unlike they've ever seen! Maybe it's time to call for backup: Percy and Annabeth. SEQUEL TO TRUTH BE TOLD!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, readers. It is I, RangerOfOlympus. The mightiest of all fangirls, the One-Who-Hyperventilates-Every-Time-She-Hears-"Percy-Jackson." The one who goes on a rant about string theory just because it was mentioned once, in one episode of** _ **The Flash**_ **. Now, this overly obsessed, if-y writer has come to FanFiction to haunt its halls forever… Really, where else would I end up?Ahem. Now that that...stuff is out of the way, we can get to the** _ **good**_ **stuff. This is the sequel to my other MCGA crossover with PJO, "Truth be Told". I got quite a bit of requests for a sequel, and I was honestly surprised. Thank you to all readers who reviewed! To tell the truth (get it,** _ **truth?**_ **) I've been very frustrated with dear Uncle Rick lately because I BROUGHT PERCY IN BEFORE HIM! Honestly, Percy is** _ **his**_ **character. Bu I'm pretty sure I love Percy more than he does, and I don't get any of the money he makes… But that's another topic, for another time. For now…I'm pretty sure a lot of you just skip over this, so maybe if it's at the bottom in big letters...**

 **READ AND REVIEW!**

Magnus POV

The world is going to end soon. So, of course, something else has to be piled on top of it that's just going to make it worse. Someone at Hotel Valhalla (don't ask me who) picked up some weird activity going on the border of New York and Massachusetts. Naturally, Sam and I were sent to check it out.

We had only just gotten there when we were instantly aware of what that random person (I really don't know who it was) had sensed. Something felt...wrong, like...I don't know, when your mom puts the mac and cheese on your plate so that it's touching the ham? Okay, bad analogy, but whatever was going on felt like it shouldn't ever _ever_ exist. Sam obviously felt it too, as I could see tightness around her eyes, but she said nothing, only gestured to a hole.

"In there."

At first I looked at her like she was nuts. Honestly, it was just a gopher hole. Even if you don't like rodents, it's not something to point apprehensively with a sword.

"Um, Sam, I'm pretty sure _gophers_ are not what attracted our attention."

She just ignored me and rolled her eyes. "Look again, dimwit."

Then I saw the unearthly white light pouring out of it and the black cracks spreading out from the center. Definitely not a normal gopher hole. Unless gophers have changed since I died…

"Well, we've got to get down there somehow. How do we do that?" I asked. I was fairly certain that I was slightly larger than a rodent. Well, a normal rodent anyways.

"Like this," Sam replied. Without another word, she sheathed her sword and stepped into the gopher hole. I was completely prepared to laugh at her for being so naive as to think a gopher hole would open up into a cave large enough for at least four people to walk through. So of course that's what actually happened. Because the universe(s?) hate me.

Sam glanced over her shoulder, a teasing smirk spread all over her face like jam on toast. Okay, what the Helheim did I just say? Whatever. Let's just skip over that. Anyways, she looked back at me and teased, "Come on down," drawing _on_ out way longer than she should've like the host of _The Price is Right_.

I rolled my eyes despairingly but followed her down anyways. When we got to wherever the cave was leading us, I saw what was probably the weirdest thing I had ever seen, and that was saying a lot.

The tunnel we had been following opened up into a huge cavern, at least the size of two football fields. In the center, there was a raised stone dais of obsidian. On the dais, there was a spire of black sapphire that seemed as if it had been made to hold something, as it looked like one one those creepy Halloween candy bowls that tries to grab your hand. Inside the claw-hand, there was a big, glowing white orb that fit the available space perfectly. Even as I watched, the orb's light seemed to pulsate, almost like a heart beating. Unfortunately, this was not the most disturbing detail about the cavern we were in. We were also faced with an army of monsters.

These were monsters unlike any I had ever seen. There were weird animals the approximate size of a donkey or medium horse with the back end of a deer, a lion's neck and tail, a badger's head, and cloven hooves. There were also animals with the front half of an eagle and the back end of a horse. Wait, I knew what those were! Those were hippogriffs. I mean, honestly, even _I_ had read _Harry Potter_. Even weirder than the odd assortment of creatures, however, was their behavior. The monster were lined up in rings, first a ring of hippogriffs, then one of...the other things. All the monsters faced forward, in the direction of the glowing thing, and were chanting.

 _All_ the monsters were chanting. Well, the hippogriffs weren't, because they can't, but the...the...Badgerheads? Yeah, that's what I'll call them. The Badgerheads were chanting. They spoke with human voices, and some of them were...familiar. I heard Leonard Nimoy, John Hurt, and even Morgan Freeman. The words were difficult to make out, but they definitely weren't English. I thought I heard a few in Norwegian, which I could understand, probably because of my heritage.

"Stige...helt...blod...ekte…" Rise, hero, blood, true. What did those words have anything to do with each other? Don't ask me. No, really. Anyways, these were the words the Badgerheads continued to chant, inserting words in between those I heard and understood that were in another language.

I cast a glance at Sam, a silent question in my eyes. What are we up against? She glanced back at me, lips tight and jerked her head back towards the exit. She turned and began to leave the cave. I followed, silently praying _Please don't close please don't close please don't close…_ It would be just our luck if the entrance had suddenly disappeared.

"What were those things?" I asked Sam. "I've never seen them before, but I'm not an expert. Are they some kind of really old monstrous Norse horse or something?"

She shook her head. "No. I think I might have seen a picture of them in a museum somewhere, but I can't remember if it was the Norse section. It might have been Greek…"

As she trailed off, my heart sank. I still hadn't told her about my run in with my Greek-demigod cousin Annabeth, her boyfriend Percy, and a giant half-bull thing that wanted to eat us. You might know it as the Minotaur. But if these monsters were Greek, and there were that many of them, I had a feeling we'd be needing some help from the Greeks soon.

I cleared my throat to startle Sam from her thoughts, which I'm sure were deep and meaningful, but who cares? We've got a problem here. "I might know someone we can call. She'll probably know what to do about the Badgerheads."

Sam looked up sharply. "Badgerheads? That's the best you could come up with?"

"Well I don't know what they're actually called! They have badger heads and I didn't know what else to call them. Sue me. Besides, what's your name for them?"

"Stripete hoder," she replied smugly.

I narrowed my eyes at Sam. "Doesn't that mean striped heads? That's no better than Badgerheads!"

"Whatever," Sam fumed. "Are you gonna call that girl or not?"

I managed to convince Sam that it would be better if we went to New York before making the call without telling her why exactly. That was a relief. I was never really sure how much Sam knew when it came to other gods. Sometimes I thought she was only aware of the Norse, and sometimes I thought otherwise. But I didn't want to take the time to explain the Greek gods to Sam; I'd let Percy and Annabeth do that. They'd do a much better job than me, especially since they're living the Greek demigod dream.

Sam and I got a little closer to Long Island before finally stopping in a small cafe. She went to order coffee or something and I dialed Annabeth's number, nervously drumming my fingers on the tabletop as I waited for her to pick up.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alright! Chapter one is done! So, what do you think? Is it worse, as good, or better than "Truth be Told" so far? I'm still not really sure... Thanks to all Davechaosity319 for reviewing and yes, in a way, all my stories are connected. Thank you to ihaveseverepjd and BlueCookiesforRick for following and ihaveseverepjd for favoriting! All that kind of stuff really helps keep me motivated and interested. Oh, one more thing: if you spot any plot holes, PLEASE tell me. I want to fix them. Once more, read and review!**

Percy's POV

Annabeth and I crouched behind the low rock spire, praying to every god we knew that the army of monsters below wouldn't catch our scent. The two of us had come back to Camp Half-Blood for the summer, hoping to take some time off and enjoy camp life. After all, we've had some crazy times lately, what with...well, let's just say sci-fi that we'd been experiencing. But, the multiverse hates us (That's a thing now, at least according to "Team Flash". That was a fun encounter.), so there would be no summer off for Annabeth and I.

Apparently, some nature spirits reported some kind of gathering of monsters underground. The monsters hadn't really done anything yet, but Chiron wanted the two of us to go and check it out. We couldn't really say no to the guy, so there we were.

I had drawn Riptide before we entered the mysterious cavern that kind of appeared out of nowhere, and Annabeth had her knife, Mania Sofias, in hand. Now we tried to hide the faint glow of our Celestial bronze weapons as we peered over the ledge at the strange scene below us.

The monsters had just started some kind of chanting in eerily human voices when Annabeth leaned over to whisper in my ear. "The ones with the badger heads are leucrocottas. They normally hide in forests and imitate humans voices like Cyclopses to lure their prey. The other ones are hippogriffs. They're-,"

I cut her off. "Hippogriffs? Like, the things in Harry Potter? You don't think he could be…?"

"No," she finished. "I highly doubt that Harry Potter actually exists."

I turned my attention back to the problem at hand. "We should report back to Chiron. Something weird's definitely going on here, and I don't exactly want to fight all these monsters with just the two of us."

We had turned to leave, carefully creeping back over the rock, when Annabeth's phone started ringing. Evidently, she had forgotten to turn it off or silence it, because it was now blasting Grease music at full volume throughout the cavern.

We go together

Like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong

Remembered forever

As shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom

Chang chang changity chang sha-bop

That's the way it should be

Wah-oooh, yeah!

I gave Annabeth an annoyed look. "Why does Grease have to be the soundtrack for our death?"

She glared right back at me. "This is practically our song, just with way more normal lives. Who knows, if we were normal teenagers we might have been the next Danny and Sandy."

"We never would've met if we were normal teenagers," I reminded her. "Besides, I can't sing."

During our conversation, we had failed to notice that the monsters' heads had swiveled as one to stare at us. The hippogriffs immediately turned back around and flew out of a good-sized hole in the ceiling of the cave. The leucrocottas were another story, however. They immediately swiveled all the way around to face us and started pacing towards us menacingly.

"Great," Annabeth sighed as her phone launched into the next verse.

We're one of a kind

Like dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo

Our names are signed

Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy

Shooby doo-wop she-bop

Chang chang changity chang sha-bop

We'll always be like one, wa-wa-wa-one

"Make it stop!" I groaned as I swung Riptide at the first leucrocotta that came near us. Annabeth rolled her eyes but complied, pressing the accept button on her phone. "I didn't mean take the call!"

Annabeth cursed. "It's my cousin."

"The not-dead dead one?" I asked, which normally wouldn't make a lot of sense, but… That was just our lives.

Annabeth nodded before putting the phone to her ear. "Magnus Chase, you ilíthios gios tou Frey! Orkízomai, an mas skotósete, tha sas entopíso Valhalla and se skotóneis xaná kai xaná!"

By the time she was finished with her tirade, I was getting seriously freaked out. Annabeth said earlier that leucrocottas could imitate human voices, and she was right. The leucrocottas somehow knew the rest of "We Go Together" and were singing it. Using the voices of the actors.

When we go out at night

And stars are shinin' bright

Up in the skies above

Or at the high school dance

Where you can find romance

Maybe it might be love

A leucrocotta using John Travolta's voice tried to pounce on me, but I ducked and stabbed it in the belly, banishing it to the depths of Tartarus.

"Give me the dekára phone!" I shouted to Annabeth holding out one hand. She tossed the little device to me before gutting a leucrocotta that sounded like Olivia Newton-John.

I caught the phone and put it to my ear, ready to chew Magnus out.

Magnus's POV

When Annabeth finally did pick up, I started to say, "Hey, Annabeth. So, I ran into this problem-," I didn't get very far.

Evidently, she was having a bad day or something because the first thing she said was something along the lines of, "Magnus Chase, you I lethal-is gi-gas-tol Frey!" This was followed by some string of foreign words interspersed with "Valhalla".

"Wait, what?" I asked when she was done. But she didn't answer. All I heard was some kind of...singing? It sounded like that song at the end of Grease. Then I heard someone shouting for Annabeth to give them the phone, and then a swishing noise. "Hello?" I asked hesitantly.

"Hello," Percy's voice responded politely. "Uh, why, exactly, did you- duck, Annabeth! Sorry, why did you call us again?"

"Um, I ran into some weird monsters that I hadn't seen before. I thought Annabeth might know something about them. What was Annabeth going on about?"

"Annabeth's just a little...upset, uh busy, right now. Upset and busy."

"Okay…" I responded slowly. "So, do you think you could help my friend and I out?"

"Oh," his voice came to me, still polite, but almost falsely so. "Well, that would be a great idea, Magnus, except for the fact that Annabeth and I are ON A MISSION RIGHT NOW!" I heard that whooshing noise again, followed by a think, and realized that was the sound of him swinging his sword.

I covered my mouth with my free hand. "I called you in the middle of… Oh my gods, I am so sorry. Annabeth was cursing me in another language, wasn't she."

"Well, not exactly," Percy replied. Then he grunted. "Back, you stupid John Travolta wannabe! Anyways, she said something in Greek about if we died here, she'd hunt you down in Valhalla and kill you over and over and over. So, if we do die, I'd be worried. She'll definitely find a way into Valhalla."

"Behind you, Percy," Annabeth's voice came from the background.

"I see him," Percy responded. "Ha ha! Take that, Frenchy!"

"Um, I'll just call back later," I said, wishing I had waited just a few more minutes.

"That's a good idea," Percy admitted. "I think Annabeth's about to storm over here and grab the phone, and that would distract her and probably kill us both, so… Bye." He hung up.

"What was that?" Sam asked, not having heard the Greek demigods' side of the exchange.

"We're gonna have to call back later," I told her seriously. She didn't like that.

"I'm sure your cousin can take a few seconds out of her mortal life to help us with a problem that could potentially mean the end of the nine worlds.

"That's really not good idea," I warned grabbing her wrist. "We really need to give her a little time to work some things out."

"Whatever." She shook me off and redialed Annabeth's number, waiting for my cousin to pick up. Unfortunately, she did. "Hello, yes I'm afraid we need your help right now. I'm sure whatever you're doing can wait."

I listened as hard as I could and gradually picked up the conversation. Percy was talking to Sam, only he thought it was me on the phone again. "Seriously, Magnus?" he demanded. "They literally just stopped singing, and now I have to hear the whole song all over again! Oh, Styx. Annabeth's coming over here. She's gonna kill you!"

I assumed there were a few scuffling noises before Annabeth picked up the phone. "MAGNUS CHASE!" She yelled so loud, I didn't have any problem hearing her and Sam almost dropped the phone. "THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU BETTER PRAY TO ALL YOUR GODS AND MINE THAT I DON'T GUT YOU LIKE A FISH! WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A SITUATION HERE, SO YOU CAN JUST CALL BACK LATER!" Annabeth hung up.

Sam looked up at me. "What is wrong with your cousin?"

I gulped and gave her a nervous smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello everyone! Here another chapter for y'all. And, just a little side note here: I'm not from New York, or even the east coast, so I don't really know how you talk over there. Sorry if this is inaccurate.**

 **Thanks to NieEngel, DemigodVenaurora, DancingFrappe, and AACM25 for favoriting and SilverByte, NieEngel, Desert Racer, DancingFrappe, and AACM25 for following!**

 **AACM25: Thanks so much for your review! It really put a smile on my face and made my day. And uh, I cracked myself up writing this. :)**

 **SilverByte: I agree. Magnus? He's going down. Maybe not in this chapter, but someday... :)**

Percy's POV

"Call Blackjack, or Mrs. O'Leary, or _someone_ ," Annabeth panted as we ran from the cave infested with a monstrous _Grease_ cast. Even though we were steadily drawing away, as the leucrocottas were only making a minimalistic effort to follow, I could still hear their insufferable music. Somehow, they knew the lyrics to _other_ songs from the same movie and were now singing them. "John Travolta's" voice rose above the others as the monster began to sing:

 _I've got chills_

 _They're multiplying._

 _And I'm losing self-control._

' _Cause the power_

 _That you're supplying,_

 _It's electrifying._

"Fine," I puffed back to Annabeth. "Anything to get away from that music." I did the best taxicab whistle I could while out of breath, and thankfully Mrs. O'Leary heard me.

As soon as she saw me, she charged. Always a scary sight, but at least she wasn't trying to kill Annabeth and I. Unlike the rest of the monsters in the world… _ROOF!_ Her artillery gun bark broke through my thoughts, and I realized I was just standing there watching my eager dog.

"Hey, girl. Listen, we need to get out of here, like, fast. Can you shadow-travel for us?" Mrs. O'Leary ears drooped slightly, but other than that she didn't protest. I took that as a yes.

I clambered up onto Mrs. O'Leary's back, which was like trying to climb onto a furry elephant, and turned to help Annabeth up. The leucrocottas had taken advantage of our problems, and were now less than a hundred yards away. They were still belting that music.

 _You're the one that I want._

 _(You are the one I want)_

 _Ooo-ooo-ooo, honey._

 _The one that I want._

 _(You are the one I want want)_

 _Ooo-ooo-ooo, honey._

 _The one that I want_

 _(You are the one I want want)_

 _Ooo-ooo-ooo._

 _The one I need._

 _Oh, yes indeed._

Mrs. O'Leary whined and gave me a look like, _Why did you bring me here?_ "Sorry, girl," I apologized. "Can you track someone? Annabeth's cousin?"

 _ROOF,_ she barked again. I was never sure whether that meant yes or no, but one could always hope…

"Percy," Annabeth said urgently. "We need to get out of here. _Now_."

I turned around to look behind us and saw that the leucrocottas were only about twenty feet away from us. I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you this, but I'll say it anyways. They were still singing, but with poorly disguised maliciousness.

 _You're the one that I want,_ and so on, but each time they repeated the chorus I couldn't help adding, _To eat,_ in my mind. I yelled, "Go, Mrs. O'Leary!" My dog sprang into action faster than I could blink, launching herself into the shadow of a tree before melting into darkness.

Ah, shadow-travel. Just one of the many joys of being a demigod. Pitch black, cold, and absolutely terrifying: my definition of fun! The only thing I was aware of other than my hands holding Mrs. O'Leary's fur was Annabeth's hands wrapped around my waist as we charged through the darkness on the back of a giant dog. 'Cause that was just our lives.

An instant later, we came out of the shadows in the middle of a crowded cafe. Just great. I was about to ask Mrs. O'Leary to shadow-travel again when I realized that (a) the Mist was doing its job well, as none of the mortals had really noticed yet, and (b) there were two people who were _not_ fooled by the Mist. One I recognized as Magnus, but the other was unfamiliar.

Annabeth and I quickly hopped down from Mrs. O'Leary. I walked over to my dog and gave her a couple pats on the head before whispering, "You go on home, girl. We'll take it from here." Mrs. O'Leary gave me a sloppy kiss before running off into the shadow underneath an umbrella. I turned back to Annabeth and smiled, taking her hand. "Well, that could've gone a lot worse."

Annabeth glanced at me. Then she went back to glaring at her cousin, who, understandably, looked like he wanted to hide. "It almost did, thanks to his call," she growled.

I shrugged. "Maybe. But he didn't know. And he _is_ your family after all, so maybe you could refrain from, I don't know...killing him?"

Annabeth snorted. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not gonna kill him, for now." Then she practically pulled my arm out of my socket dragging me towards said cousin. As soon as we reached the table, she demanded, "What the Styx was that, Magnus?"

"Okay," Magnus started to protest, "the first time it was me calling, but not the second time. She grabbed the phone and called you back," he accused pointing a finger at the girl across from him.

"And she is?" Annabeth asked, unwilling to accept the answer.

"A Valkyrie," was the reply.

"So _this_ is the person responsible for the repeat of "We Go Together"?" I demanded. "How very disappointing. Do you have any idea how freaky it is to be attacked by-," I broke off as Magnus coughed.

"You, uh, might wanna _explain_ a little first."

Annabeth gave an exasperated sigh. "You didn't tell her yet? How are we supposed to work with someone who doesn't know?"

Magnus shrugged. "Well, I don't know. I didn't really mean for her to not know, I just thought you could explain it better."

The girl gave us all exasperated looks. "Magnus, you realize that you have not introduced me to these nutcases and that you are all talking in circles, correct?"

"Sorry," Magnus apologized hurriedly. "This is Sam, a Valkyrie, as I said before. And Sam, this is my cousin Annabeth and her boyfriend Percy."

I gave Sam a wave, resisting the urge to put a hand on Riptide. Without warning, I blurted out, "We're Greek demigods." There goes the ADHD again. Annabeth smacked my arm.

"What he means is-,"

"No, I get it," Sam interrupted. "I've known about the Greeks for a while now. Bunch of war-hungry maniacs, you are."

I arched an eyebrow. "Wow. The Norse have a really good opinion of us," I said to Annabeth, who was now glaring daggers (almost literally, I saw one hand slowly reaching for the hilt of her dagger) at the other girl, sarcastically. "You do realize," I turned back to Sam, "that the world would've ended _twice_ if we hadn't been around?"

"If you weren't around, there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place," Sam retorted.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "He meant the two of us specifically. Although, I can't blame you for being confused. Seaweed Brain over here almost never says what he really means."

"Hey!" I protested.

"So, who're your parents?" Sam asked, unconcerned.

"Poseidon and Athena," I answered in an offhand way.

"Hold on." Sam's eyes narrowed. "You said your names were Percy and Annabeth. Your parents are Athena and Poseidon. You mean _you're_ the ones that are always in the middle of every disaster?" I sighed and nodded while Sam cast a glance at Magnus. "Why am I not surprised that you're _his_ cousin?"

Magnus gave her a sheepish smile. "Uh, listen, Annabeth, about the phone call…"

Annabeth glared at him. "We'll discuss it later. If you mention it again before whatever threat there is is neutralized, well…" She smiled. "I hope you don't value your skin." Magnus gulped. "Now, what's so infinitely important?"

"Well," Magnus started clearing his throat, "Sam and I were on a little side-mission, I guess you could say, and we ran into something really weird. It was like these hippogriffs and these weird things with badger heads all in a cave and chanting at some kind of glowing orb."

I groaned. "That's the same thing _we_ were fighting." I turned to Annabeth. "These two...things are gonna be connected, aren't they? And there's gonna be some big plan to take over the world and end all of humanity…" I stopped when I saw the looks everyone else was giving me. "Right. Shutting up."

"Is that why I heard one of the Badgerheads talking in Leonard Nimoy's voice?" Magnus asked.

"They're called leucrocottas," Annabeth grumbled. I hadn't spoken yet because I was expecting her to correct him. I mean, come on! It's _Annabeth_. She can't stand it when someone uses the wrong name or word.

"Unfortunately, that's not all they do," I said darkly in response to Magnus's question. " _Someone_ made their phone's ringtone "We Go Together" from _Grease_. So when you called us, those creepy parrot-monsters heard that song and started singing it back to us. Then, they sang "You're the One that I Want" while attacking us."

"So that's why I heard _Grease_ music," Sam realized.

Annabeth nodded. "Mm. Look, obviously some kind of magic was going on in there, and whoever was orchestrating it needed human voices. That's why they chose the leucrocotta. Other monsters might speak English, but they can't really imitate the human voice. The only other ones that do that are Cyclopes, and most of them are good. I'm not sure why hippogriffs were there, though. In the old stories they were always good. They were often mounts for heroes. Unless something's changed…" She got that frown that she gets every time she's thinking through a problem as she retreated into her own thoughts.

"How're we gonna handle this?" Sam asked.

My eyes widened into a deer-in-the-headlights look. "Me? Uh, I'm not really one for strategy. I kinda just bash and whack and hope things turn out for the best. Annabeth's the thinker. But if you really want to know what I think, I say we destroy monsters first and ask questions later."

"While that might also be my initial reaction, I think it would be better if we found the motive before," Sam paused, "as you put so _elegantly_ earlier, bashing and whacking."

I smiled at her. "You just don't want to look bad in front of your boss." I switched to an impression of a girl's voice before continuing, "Yes, Mr. Odin, sir. We just bashed and whacked all of them until they were gone. No, sir, we didn't ask any questions."

My new acquaintance glared at me, drawing an axe I had not seen before from her belt. Just another intimidating woman to add to the list, I guess. With Annabeth at the top, naturally. "You wanna go?" she demanded.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ta da! Another chapter. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Ahem. Anyways, yes. Here is the new chapter, and I just wanted to make something clear. I don't own either of these series. That would mean I was Rick Riordan, and Rick Riordan has lots of money. I don't even own this computer. So...yeah. Also, I don't own Grease. It's a great movie, but I would've written it with less profanity** **and such. I love the music though! And uh, the leucrocotts singing is gonna come up again, so be prepared (for the chance of lifetime! Be prepared for sensational news! A thing new era is tiptoeing nearer...). Sorry. Who knows what that's from? Hint: those are song lyrics.**

 **Translations: I realize I haven't been doing these, and there are a few things I refuse to translate, simply because they mean some...nasty things. But here's** ** _most_** **of the translations. Percy told you what Annabeth yelled at Magnus, by the way.**

 **Mania Sofias: Wisdom's Fury**

 **prokateilimménos ilíthios: prejudiced idiot (this is coming up in this chapter)**

 **READ AND REVIEW!**

"I'd be glad to," I responded with false politeness. I reached into my right hand pocket and pulled out Riptide. For a moment the two of us just stood there glaring at each other.

Sam burst out laughing. "You think your gonna be able to beat _me_ with a _pen_? I don't care how good you are, a pen's not gonna cut it. I have an _axe_ ," she said like I was an idiot.

Annabeth who had not been following the conversation closely, preferring to try and think her way through the problem, suddenly looked up at me sharply. "Percy, what are you thinking?" I began to mutter something along the lines of, _She started it_ , but Annabeth stopped me pretty quickly. "We can't do it _here_. The mortals will see you and you'll be wanted across the nation again. Let's take this somewhere else. _Sit_ ," she commanded finally. I sat.

Sam and I were still glaring - can I say swords? - at each other. Magnus kinda interrupted that though. "So that _was_ you a few years ago? The one who was kidnapped by that biker dude with some of his friends? You guys were all over the news."

I snorted. "Kidnapped. If only. Yeah, it was me, Annabeth, and my satyr friend Grover, but we were actually on a quest. The 'biker dude,' as you put it, was actually Ares, god of war. Man, that guy is stupid!"

"Percy…" Annabeth warned. "Watch yourself."

"So, you _did_ blow up the Gateway Arch?" Magnus clarified.

"What'd I tell you?" Sam declared. "Greeks are terrorists. The lot of 'em."

Scary Annabeth came back. "Listen, you _prokateilimménos ilíthios_. Unfortunately, we don't really have the time or crayons to explain this to you, but _we are not the enemy_. You need our help, and we'd be happy to give it if you would just stop with all of...this." Annabeth gestured towards Sam. **(A/N: I'm NOT implying that dear Annie flipped Sam off, okay? I was kinda going for the thing in the first How to Train Your Dragon movie. Just thought I should throw that out there, 'cause some of y'all might've taken that the wrong way.)**

There was a little more conversation after that, most of which you don't need to hear. There was quite a bit of swearing, both in English and in Norwegian (I think) and Greek. Let's just say that by the time we explained to Sam and Magnus that no, we had not actually blown up the Gateway Arch on purpose (Annabeth was highly offended by the thought that she might do any such thing to such a 'magnificent piece of architecture,' her words, not mine) and that we had in fact helped save the world multiple times, the restaurant's customers did not like us at all. Eventually, the manager came over and asked us to leave. Something about young children being in the building.

Anyways, as we left, Magnus walked over to me and whispered in my ear, "Why do I feel like I just launched two nuclear bombs right into each other's paths?" I followed his gaze and saw he was watching Sam and Annabeth, both of whom still had their hands on their weapons.

I clapped him on the shoulder. "Dude, you're wrong. Annabeth's a supernova." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, but didn't dispute my logic. I knew he was a smart one…

The four of us eventually found ourselves in some kind of deserted park. Honestly, I surprised that there weren't more people there. The place was beautiful, what with the maple trees, and the oak trees, and...a bunch of other kinds of trees. After a while, we found a clearing with a little pond in it, or at least a space that was more open than the rest of the park.

"Alright, Percy. The two of you can fight now if you want," Annabeth sighed gesturing to Sam and I. "I'll be over there." She pointed to a nearby tree and pulled a book out of the small backpack she had on. Oh, did I forget to mention that earlier? Well, she had a small backpack. That's where she had been keeping her phone and, apparently, her book. I squinted at the title and tried to read it. Gradually I was able to decipher the Greek title: _String Theory Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide_.

"You brought a book on string theory on a mission," I deadpanned. "Only you, Wise Girl. Only you."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "At least my first instinct isn't to attack every new person I meet."

I gave her a look like, _Really?_ "That is a complete lie."

She shrugged. "True enough." Annabeth turned and went to sit under the aforementioned tree. Magnus went and sat beside her, fingering that pendant of his that was actually his talking sword. Woah, talking sword? Why am I only realizing just now how _weird_ that is?

Whatever. Magnus made the mistake of asking Annabeth one question you should never ask: _what_. Or, _why_. Also, _how_ , _when_ , _where_ , _who_ and pretty any other question you can think of. "So, Annabeth. What's string theory?"

"Oh my gods, Magnus! I can't believe you haven't heard of it before!" Annabeth gushed. Only a daughter of Athena **(A/N: Or true science nerd, or big big** _ **big**_ **BIG fan of** _ **The Flash**_ **)** could gush about string theory, whatever that is. "It's _so_ interesting. Basically, the main goal of physicists is to find out how everything works and how it works together and string theory is one of the theories physicists think could unify all of physics, which would be amazing…"

This was about all I heard, and wanted to hear, about string theory; so I turned back to Sam. "So, you still wanna fight, or are you too scared?" I challenged.

Sam sucked in a sharp breath. From behind me, Annabeth and Magnus called out simultaneously, "Big mistake, Percy!" Then they delved back into the mysteries of strings.

"Never," Sam smirked.

She charged me fast, but I was ready. I mean, with years of experience fighting monsters, not a lot catches you off guard, right? There were only about fifteen feet between us, so she was within striking distance very quickly. I decided to to attack first, however. For one thing, I had no idea how she fought. Sam was also using an axe, so I couldn't fight her like I would a swordsman - uh, woman - um, _person_.

Evidently, she was thinking the same thing, as we circled each other for a moment. Realizing that we weren't going to get anywhere if someone didn't attack soon, I attacked. At the same time Sam did. Our blades crossed with a loud _CLANG_ , and in that moment, I noticed that her axe wasn't made of Celestial bronze.

I'm not an expert on metals, unlike some people ( _cough_ \- Leo - _cough_ ), but I was fairly certain the axe was steel. Which could potentially cause some problems to it's owner… Same went at it again swinging at first towards my head and then down to my feet, but I easily blocked the strike. Honestly, it had been predictable; a classic feint.

I started to go on the offensive, driving her back step by step, which turned out to be a bad thing. I got, ah, a little distracted and didn't notice the evil gleam in her eyes. Just when I thought I had finished her, Sam suddenly sprouted wings, knocking me back. I rolled and came up standing, albeit a little dustier than before.

"We're using powers now?" I grumbled.

Sam flew into the air and hovered fix or six feet off the ground. "Everyone says you're powerful, son of Poseidon. Why don't you use your powers?"

Hmm. I started thinking, which really isn't all that good unless I'm in a battle situation. Which I was. If I made a hurricane, it would probably be too tough on her wings and she'd have to put them away and fight me on the ground, where I was pretty sure I had the advantage. Then again, if I made a hurricane, she'd probably get thrown into the trees… "I would," I called back, "but I'm not sure I can use them, at least aggressively, without killing you."

"Truce, then?" the Valkyrie suggested.

I shrugged. "Sure."

Sam landed and her wings retracted. We walked over to the tree Magnus and Annabeth were sitting under and plopped down next to our respective friends.

"I think I could've fought you better," Magnus claimed thoughtfully.

I raised my eyebrows. "You think?" Magnus nodded and I immediately stood. "Let's go then." I pulled him to his feet and he started protesting.

"What me? I meant Jack."

"Well, you said _I_. That means not Jack. But bring him out anyways. You're gonna need something to fight with." Magnus reluctantly turned Jack into a sword, and Jack instantly started scolding him, in a manner of speaking.

"What the Helheim, dude? You've been with these people for like, an _hour_ and you haven't let me talk to them. And now that you finally let me out, you're all like, 'Oh, Jack, please fight this guy for me!' Well, no way, man. You're on your own." The sword dropped to the ground and Magnus picked it up nervously.

"Don't kill him, Percy," Annabeth called absently from the depths of her book.

"Okay," I answered. "Ready?" I asked Magnus. He gave me a single nod. I lunged and knocked Jack out of his hands with one strike. I glanced at Jack, then at Magnus, then back at Jack. "You need to work on your swordsmanship."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I am so sorry this update didn't come sooner. I really did mean to get this out about a week ago. But, ah, school and matriculation happened and state testing and... Ugh. It been ugly. But hey! I'm back!**

 **Thanks to** **Anne-da-Griffin for favoriting, and to Saturn Lover, Anne-da-Griffin, and Hamers for following! If more of you guys did either of those, sorry. I heard that the e-mail notification system is a little wonky right now. Now go and enjoy this story.**

 **READ AND REVIEW!**

When I was finished teaching Magnus a few things about swordsmanship, he looked pretty tired. I figured he would bounce back quickly though, what with his healing powers and all. I sat down next to Annabeth and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, which she only barely acknowledged, still being buried in the depths of her string theory book.

Sam was looking pretty annoyed, which was understandable. I mean, Magnus and Sam had encountered that little problem that Annabeth and I also ran into…

I suddenly froze. We had just been goofing off for like, two hours when we had a serious problem on our hands. Who knows what the monsters were doing? I gently prodded Annabeth, trying to get her attention without her putting a knife to my throat. "Um, Annie?"

She held up a single index finger as her eyes scanned back and forth finishing her paragraph. Then she finally, slowly looked up at me. "What?"

I decided to let her figure it out on her own. "Why are we here?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? We're here because Magnus called us for help with those monsters he and Sam came across…" Her eyes widened as she realized what I was saying. "And we've just been sitting here."

"What are we going to do about those...those whatever-they-weres?" Sam questioned.

"I'm still for bashing and whacking, personally," I said.

"It'll probably come down to that," Magnus acknowledged. "What was with that chanting though?"

Annabeth's eyes wandered as she thought out loud. "They needed human voices, so they must be doing some kind of magic. Like…" her eyes widened suddenly as she figured whatever she had figured out out. "Almost like they were trying to bring something back to life."

I reviewed the monsters' chants in my head and realized that they _did_ sound similar to the chants Nico always did. "She's right," I admitted, not for the first time. "Our friend - well, my cousin actually - has done some similar chants."

"You have a friend that tries to bring back _the dead_?" Magnus demanded.

I shrugged. "Sort of."

"Nico can't really bring things _all_ the way back," Annabeth clarified. "He just kind of summons their souls back to earth."

Sam reminded her, "Some of the words were in Norwegian, though."

"I know," Annabeth conceded. "But Percy and I have found that sometimes combining two types of magic, say Greek and Norse, can make spells even stronger. And if the spell they were chanting uses both languages, it might be strong enough to bring someone all the way back to life."

"So we're dealing with someone who probably has some kind of grudge," Magnus speculated, to which Annabeth nodded.

My girlfriend opened her mouth, probably to say some kind of plan, but yours truly interrupted. "So, we're going to chop up all the monsters, chop up the glowing things, and then...go home?" Sam gave me a dirty look, like I was the lowest species of worm. Hey, I was just sick and tired of dealing with this stuff and looking forward to going home. Magnus looked like he agreed with me, while Annabeth just gave me an eye roll.

"Sure, Percy. Let's the four of us go charging in there with no plan and no backup. Because that works every time."

"Um, it kind of has so far," I reminded her.

"That doesn't mean it will this time."

I shrugged, halfway agreeing with her when Magnus spoke up. "Hey, you have us this time. We can handle these monsters now that we know what to expect. It'd still be nice to have your help, though," he finished awkwardly.

Annabeth gaze softened a little bit. "Fine," she finally muttered through her teeth. "We can _chop them up_ without a plan."

"That wasn't so hard to say, now was it?" I asked. I knew she hated doing anything without a plan, which we seemed to end up doing most of the time. Annabeth glared at me, and the message was clear. _I still hate this. Be glad there isn't a dagger up your nose._ I turned away from my murderous girlfriend (isn't she great?) and continued with a grin, "Alright, gang. Let's move out."

We ended up going back to the cave Magnus and Sam were at, since it was closer and Mrs. O'Leary was unwilling to shadow-travel again. Naturally, when we got there, the Mist was messing with again. I may have thought that the cave entrance was a gopher hole and tripped into it. I say _into_ it because, of course, the gopher hole expanded as soon as I stepped in it. Lovely.

We snuck down as quietly a we could with the four of us, eventually getting to the same open chamber Magnus and Sam said they had been in before. We expected the monster to still be in the chamber, but they were gone, leaving nothing but the glowing sphere behind.

"At least we can destroy...whatever this is before the monsters fight back," Sam offered.

"Right," I agreed. "Would you like to do the honors?" I offered to Sam. She narrowed her eyes.

"Why would you let me do that? Don't you want the glory?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Honestly? Glory's overrated, especially if you had to watch people die to get it."

"I'm not convinced."

I started to demand, "Why do you hate the Greeks so much?" I was stopped just after _you_ by Jack slicing the glowing thing in half.

" _Thank you_ for shutting up," the sword hummed.

"Now for the monsters," Annabeth said grimly.

"Now for the monsters," Magnus echoed.

We climbed down from the raised platform we were on and split up looking for an offshooting passage or something. In the end, it was Annabeth who found it. She called us over and the four of us crept silently down the hall. The passage got narrower and narrower until we were all walking in single file, which seemed really impractical, considering the monsters were wider than we were. My shoulders were just beginning to brush the walls of the passage when the hallway suddenly opened up.

We seemed to be on some sort of balcony and were looking down at dozens upon dozens of leucrocottas. Thankfully, they hadn't noticed us yet, but I assumed it wouldn't be long. For now, we were on a stakeout. A really deadly stakeout that could end with us being badger-thing food.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! So, here I am, finally updating... It's been too long, hasn't it? Well, whatever you may think, here is the final chapter of Bad Timing. It's a little shorter than the others, but yeah... enjoy anyways.**

 **Thanks to all of you who followed, which was Paws Whovian, prasad, quota the dragon,** **hitsugayauchiha, intomiddle3arth, and stardustandmemes. Also to those of you who favorited, which was Paws Whovian, prasad, and hitsugayauchiha.**

 **Bass Beast: Thank you so much; I always enjoy hearing from you. Well, reading. And hi!**

 **Guest: That's cool. I like Sam too, I just think she's a little more...I don't know, hostile I guess, than some of the other characters. And if it feels like everyone's OOC, that's probably because Magnus Chase is a newer series. We haven't heard his voice as many times as we have Percy's, ya know? Percy has a very distinct way of speaking and acting that I have a lot of fun trying to recreate. But, even though your review was, admittedly, less than complimentary, I was glad to hear someone speak up.**

 **READ AND REVIEW!**

We climbed down from the raised platform we were on and split up looking for an offshooting passage or something. In the end, it was Annabeth who found it. She called us over and the four of us crept silently down the hall. The passage got narrower and narrower until we were all walking in single file, which seemed really impractical, considering the monsters were wider than we were. My shoulders were just beginning to brush the walls of the passage when the hallway suddenly opened up.

We seemed to be on some sort of balcony and were looking down at dozens upon dozens of leucrocottas. Thankfully, they hadn't noticed us yet, but I assumed it wouldn't be long. For now, we were on a stakeout. A really deadly stakeout that could end with us being badger-thing food.

The four of us leaned as far over as we could, straining to see what was happening below us. The hippogriffs were gone, leaving only the lei-crackpots, I mean leucrocottas, behind. Only...they were doing weird stuff. Somehow, they had gotten a computer and were doing something on it, just like the telekhine on the Andromeda Princess.

"Any idea where the hippogriffs are?" Sam whispered.

"Not sure," Annabeth replied. "I think maybe they left the operation entirely. They never were evil in the old stories."

"As long as they don't singing again and willingly go back to Tartarus, we'll get along just fine with these guys."

Annabeth sighed. "When has that ever happened?"

Magnus, who was still watching the monsters looked up all of a sudden and said, "Um, I think you jinxed the singing thing."

"Oh no," I groaned looking down at the scene below.

 _Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?_

 _Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality_

 _Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see_

 _I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy_

 _Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low_

 _Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me_

A group of leucrocottas were up on a makeshift stage, singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" as loud as they could.

Magnus looked confused. "Why do they only know songs from the twentieth century?"

I gave him a look like, What is wrong with you?! "You see this," I gestured to the weirdness below us, "and that's your only question?" I only became more incredulous when I glanced over at my girlfriend and saw her mouthing the words.

Then, despite the monsters being only halfway through the song, they suddenly cut to

 _Shot through the heart_

 _And you're to blame_

 _Darlin', you give love a bad name_

"I'm done," I growled. "I'm just done. You're dead!" I shouted, raising my voice over the music. I raised Riptide and was about to jump off the ledge we were on, but realized that would probably lead to my death. So, I charged down the spiraling staircase-like thing on the sides of the room. Behind me, I heard my friends' footsteps and Annabeth grumbling about my stupidity. So nothing new, then.

When we reached the floor of the cavern, all the leucrocottas immediately swiveled to face us. Even though they kept singing, their faces betrayed their hostility. As I made the first swing towards one of them, their song changed once again.

 _How come you're always such a fussy young man_

Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran

Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan

So eat it, just eat it

"I think they're purposefully picking songs about eating stuff now!" Magnus yelled as Jack danced in front of him, turning dozens of monsters into piles of dust.

"No duh!" Sam shouted back.

 _Don't want to argue, I don't want to debate_

 _Don't want to hear about what kind of food you hate_

 _You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate_

 _So eat it_

 _"_ Why does this sound like Michael Jackson's "Beat It"?" I asked of no one in particular.

"It's the Weird Al parody," Annabeth reminded me.

 _Don't you tell me you're full_

 _Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it_

 _Get yourself an egg and beat it_

 _Have some more chicken, have some more pie_

 _It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried_

 _Just eat it, eat it, just eat it, eat it_

 _Just eat it, eat it, just eat it, eat it, ooh_

The song nearly died out as we killed more and more monsters until there were only two left. One was singing harmony, and the other the melody. I cut off the head of the one singing harmony because (1) it was a monster and needed to be destroyed and (2) I couldn't sing, much less do harmony. Annabeth snuck up behind the one singing melody, and stabbed it right between its eyes, bringing the song to an end.

"I will never look at Weird Al the same way," I stated.

 **A/N: Yeah, so the vengeful spirit on the summary kinda just...died. It was going to be Nessus, the centaur killed by Hercules, and then I was like nah. Nessus is a centaur, which is technically a monster, so he wouldn't need to be raised from the death. I don't know. It kinda just died. Oh, and, in case you were wondering, the reason the leucrocottas only knew songs from the 20th century is because that's all _I_ listen to. :) I hope you liked this. If you did, or even if you didn't, let me know in that little box down there that lets you write a review. Sayonara!**


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